KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- Tusculum University's Trenton Gibson continues to draw attention for the Pioneer men's basketball team after being named to the 2022 Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award Top-100 Watch List.
The 2022 Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division II, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA.
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
Gibson, a graduate student from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is one of four South Atlantic Conference student-athletes listed among the top-100 including Lincoln Memorial's Jordan Guest and the Queens University of Charlotte duo of Kenny Dye and Jamari Smith.
On February 15th, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players. One month later on March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 2nd, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 4th.
Gibson has led the Pioneers to an impressive 11-4 start to the season, including 11-2 in SAC play which has TU tied atop the league standings with No. 10/16 Lincoln Memorial (14-2, 11-2 SAC) and just ahead of No. 22/16 Queens (13-3, 9-3 SAC).
Gibson, the 2021 SAC Player of the Year, is currently the only player in the league who is listed in the top-10 statistically in scoring, rebounding and assists. His 20.3 points per game average is second in SAC and ranked 35th in the country. He is also ninth in the conference rebounding with 6.8 rebounds per contest while his 4.7 assists have him listed fourth in the league.
During his 94-game career at Tusculum, he has accounted for 1,454 career points, which ranks him 11th in school history. He has scored in double figures on 79 occasions including his last 25 in a row dating back to last season.
He is listed in TU's career top-10 in 10 statistical categories including: field goals made (455 – 9th), field goal attempts (1089 – 5th), free throws made (435 – 3rd), free throw attempts (542 – 3rd), free throw percentage (.803 – 6th), rebounds (604 – 10th), rebounds per game (6.43 rpg – 4th), assists (389 – 4th), assists per game (4.14 apg – 7th) and steals (113 – T9th).
The two-time All-SAC honoree earned a spot on the NABC All-District Team last year as he led the Pioneers in scoring, rebounding and assists as TU finished the season as a NCAA II Southeast Region semifinalist. He was named to the SAC All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Southeast Region All-Tournament Team.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Tusculum in just three years while graduating summa cum laud. He was named the SAC Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year, becoming the first player in league history to sweep the conference's top two basketball awards in the same season. He was later tabbed the SAC Presidents Award recipient as well as the D2CCA Southeast Region Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. Last spring, he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team.
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Tobin Anderson - St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.), Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen - Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Ryan Kane - Ripon (Wisc.), Mark Berokoff – Oklahoma City, Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Rhett Soliday – Vanguard (Calif.), Sam Hargraves – Olivet (Mich.), Stacy Hollowell – Loyola (La.), Stephen Brennan – Babson, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Chase Tiechmann – Florida College, Bart Lundy – Queens (N.C.), Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa (Kan.), Tae Norwood – Humboldt State, Justin Parnell – Oregon Tech, Mark Vanderslice – USC - Aiken and Grant Leep – Seattle Pacific.
Tusculum, who is riding a six-game winning streak, will host nationally-ranked Queens this Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. TU upset the Royals 81-74 last month in Charlotte in the season's first meeting.
